Vintage shots from days gone by!

<B>Texas Co., Linwood Place & C, S.W. [Washington, D.C.]</B>

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/npc2008007839/resource/

 

<B>Auto wreck</B>

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/npc2008004380/resource/

 

<B>Vice Pres. car & chauffer [...], 12/4/20</B>

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/npc2008001209/resource/

 

<B>French 75 gun</B>

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/npc2008000776/resource/

 

<B>Edyth Gregg</B>

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/npc2008004864/resource/

 

<B>Ice lines</B>

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/npc2008000996/resource/

 

<B>Dermonet Ford truck</B>

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/npc2008004369/resource/

 

<B>[Truck: C.M. Woolf & Co., Inc., Agricultural Implements, Seeds, 1005 B St., N.W., Washington, D.C.]</B>

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/npc2008011240/resource/

 

<B>[Photographers and other persons on camera]</B>

ttp://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/npc2008011312/resource/

 

<B>Topham's Trunck auto</B>

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/npc2008011756/resource/

 

Honey West

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom S. in Tn.
Was this car actually raced on the beach? Tom S.

I'll be........... from Tucker Tornado's to Toyota's. I believe I've seen it all now.
I saw the photo and thought this car raced out on Daytona. Thanx; Tom S.

 

I'm kinda glad the subject of the Dead End Kids came up a couple of days ago. I spent a good deal of yesterday surfing for info on what I used to see as throwaway entertainment but which I now view as something of a '30s phenomenon with legs that carried the troupe through the '50s!

"The Dead End Kids" were initially portrayed as conniving, street-mean, dangerous punks in the 1935 Big Apple play and '37 movie, both called "Dead End." When Hollywood called, the gang became an ever-shifting ensemble, transitioning in subsequent years toward harmless comedy hi jinks. The group grew in personnel, spreading variations of the "Kids" entourage over films by four different studios, and went by a total of four monikers, successively including the Dead End Kids, Little Tough Guys, the East Side Kids, and the Bowery Boys. In a couple of cases, actors -- notably Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall -- busied themselves at two studios simultaneously, though playing similar or the same characters. Original '35 play cast David Gorcey and Charles Duncan were "Little Tough Guys" for a few brief years at Universal. Both had dropped out of the play cast. Interestingly, when Duncan (originally the punk, "Spit") left after a few performances, he was replaced by a young plumber's helper, David Gorcey's brother Leo!

By 1958, the various teams involved (that had sort of traded cast like ball clubs did players) had made a pretty amazing total of 89 movies, mostly of feature length!

From the gritty early era, probably the two best remembered "gangster" films featuring the "Dead End" boys were 1937's "Dead End" with Joel McCrea and Humphrey Bogart, and "Angels With Dirty Faces," 1938, with James Cagney and Pat O'Brien.

​

Affordable repro of this 11" X 14" lobby card available on eBay.
Likewise the window-card poster below.

​

 

I think this photo makes more sense now. I still believe it is a "composite," meaning that not all of those shown were actually present for a single photo-shoot but were placed in the same scene by some matting technique or by plain old knife work. The angles and perspectives on some of the actors' images don't quite match, but the final version probably worked well enough for the studio's promotional purposes in newspapers. Some of the shadows also look as though they were airbrushed in to lend a little more visual integrity.

My original theory that the talents shown were from different studios missed the mark, to some extent. Many were under primary contracts at various studios, true. But by the late '30s, most studios were strategically "loaning" contract stars to other studios for one, or a few, pictures. (That's how Selznick International landed Gable to play Rhett Butler, e.g.) I still put this photo at 1939, perhaps a wee bit later but not much. And I believe ALL were, indeed, under some sort of contract with Universal Pictures, either long- or short-term contracts.

Rathbone, Lugosi and Karloff are in their specific costumes/makeup for Universal's "Son of Frankenstein," 1939. Yup, those are Edgar Bergen and friend, soprano charmer Deanna Durbin, popular one-time child start Jackie Cooper, Wm. Claude Dukenfield with cane. Fields' popularity had just rebounded after radio appearances with Edgar Bergen and signing a new movie contract, with Universal, in '39. Bing's photo seems the most out of place, compositionally speaking, but the artist probably did his best.

As for the five seated young fells, I tend to think these are the Little Tough Guys, Universal's own, albeit short lived, entry into the juvenile-delinquent comedy genre. I don't know any faces for sure, though Leo Gorcey's brother, David, and Charles Duncan (both '35 "Dead End" cast members) are probably in the mix. I looked up pix of the key early Dead End Kids (below individuals), so have fun straining your own eyes to see if you find any resemblances!





BTW, I don't know if the links (colored names) work or not, but many of these young guys had interesting lives
outside of the Dead End. At least a couple fought in the war. One was married five times, etc., etc.!


Billy Halop (Tommy), thanks to LucyWho.



Bobby Jordan (Angel), thanks to AsleepinNY.



Huntz Hall (Dippy) , thanks to Wikipedia.



Bernard Punsly (Milty), thanks to LifeinLegacy.



Gabriel Dell (T.B.), thanks to FindaGrave.


LeoGorcey, thanks to Wikipedia. He replaced Charles Duncan
who'd played "Spit" very early on. In the Bowery Boys movies, the
character name seems to have become a less offensive "Slip."

 

DANG!! Our 155mm Howitzer in the Oz Army is only half that size!! (103Bty 8/12 Mdm Regt, Royal Australian Artillery)

Doc.

 

Damn computers! Sometimes I think non-wireheads, like me, might do better with shadow puppets. The COLOR got lost, but the links work; just click on the boys' names, folks!

 

Hey, Doc. And I think the French had some even bigger that could only be mounted & moved on rail cars! Scary. Back during the Big War, when the boys feared "bombs," they were very often referring not to aerial bombs, as we would today, but to the big-ass ballistic shells.

 

Not wrong there mate, the 'Big Bertha' rail gun's were incredible! The French had a 370mm gun!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_gun

We still, at least in Oz refer to the projectile as a 'Bomb' in the 155, the projectile is a separate thing and does not have a 'casing' like smaller rounds do. The charge bags are separate and once the round is 'Rammed' into the gun then there is different colour charge bags depending on how far the bomb has to go. So the order on the gun would be something like, 'HE green bag charge 4', meaning a High Explosive bomb that is not going all that far only using 4 of the charge bags (Cant remember how many there were, about 10 per charge?).
Then at the end of the day or fire mission we would always have a heap of cordite bags that were not used, we would pile them up and set them on fire. MAN was that a bonfire!!!
Kinda old guns so I'm not giving away any secrets!!

Doc.

 

Always keen to hear some details about technologies of the past! Cordite! Do they make that anymore for any special apps? I think I remember reading that it was supplanted by some other, clean-burning high explosive.

I hear what you're saying about "bombs" as opposed to shells with brass casings. Runs in my mind that fluid-steel big guns on the Iowa Class battle wagons used at least six bags, and they required regular old-fashioned black powder. They film shots of them firing a salvo are STILL amazing!

Armaments guys, feel free to help with any inaccuracy or omission on my part!

 

That's because I removed them after his rather rude post.

 

Preston's cars WERE good performers, and it's a darn shame they couldn't have done a full production year's-worth of them.
From what we DO know about them, I honestly believe that if a few thousand -- not just 50 or so -- had made it to customers,
then ALL the government meddling and the press rumor mill and back-stabbing that Preston Tucker had to endure would
have blown away like chaff in the wind! Soon, we'd have seen an ADDITIONAL Tucker model, the Talisman, as well.


<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
The Tuckers did well in at least one match drag race that I have heard of. Funny story, though. If the one above is the one
I think it may be, the driver's son commented on the internet a while back. He said his dad said, in effect, that they were
not as adept at roundy-round, in that he lost one of the rear wheels more than once! Heck, had the company still been in
production, they'd surely have produced a performance package to amend that issue. Tucker had some GREAT engineers!
I feel all he lacked was a BIG backer and pain old TIME. More of either one, and we might still be driving new Tucker cars
today. Wonder what THOSE would look like!!!

 

You are probably right about the Cordite, I'm not sure what it was but everyone just referred to is as cordite!? If you cut open a charge bag, the explosive itself looked like small 8mm round and 15mm long wagon wheel shaped pasta!!
Never tasted it though..........

Doc.

 

This is Tucker #1004. It's history was featured in the March 2012 issue of Hemmings Classic Cars. It did snap the rear axle several times while racing. That was a pretty common problem on all the Tuckers. Too much torque in first gear. Tucker guru Bill Hamlin solved the problem in the 60s by replacing them with Corvette axles.

Probably the biggest problem Tucker had was that they were just plain underfunded. Most stories focus on the government or the press but in the end the company didn't have the capitol to build and produce a car from scratch. I've read just about everything ever written on the car and company and sorted through thousands of company documents. It always comes back to one common thread. Not enough money. If they had more cash they would not have tried some of the stunts that got them in hot water with the government and press.

As to what a Tucker would look like today. Here it is:

 

Yep! Something about the chemistry of the production process; it came out like, well, CORD. Now you have me curious, and I have to go do a new search and find out the WHY of it!

Oh, Doc! BTW, I join with those who say you are just fine for "polite society," mate! (But when you join the party, please descreetly use the rear entrance, will ya???)

 

I hope they take the barrell plug out beforw firing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

poor excuse as there we never any pictures, sorry

 

Cord, well that explains a lot!
No worries mate, strange but everyone I meet asks me the same??

Doc.

 

THANKS, TuckerFan, I LIKE the modern Tucker concept! Before anybody gripes, it would fit on this thread in our long-standing "THEN&NOW" illustrations.

I am very familiar with your dedication to researching all things Tucker, but maybe some regulars here are unaware of your popular HAMB thread seeking elusive, still unpublished VINTAGE photos. Please tell 'em the thread title so they can go and read about Tucker until their eyeballs float, will ya?

I can't disagree on the MONEY assertion. Lack of major CAPITAL -- not imagination or enthusiasm -- was THE biggest problem Preston battled from the start. But as much as I still love the man as a true American representing the old-fashioned vision of the self-made man, his dreams -- IMO -- did get in the way of forward progress at times. The money he went through wasn't as big an issue as the TIME that got away right after the war while he investigated first one, then a second, finally a third power plant, not to mention burning time on design ideas that even he had to drop eventually. Sadly, it would seem that even many among the general public started to wonder when what was billed as the awaited "Tucker 48" was actually quite scarce in that calendar year.

So, yes, capital: HUGE problem, absolutely. But IMO, the window of opportunity, along with public fervor, faded away when cars weren't forthcoming in timely fashion. I really believe that if he could have resolved design and drivetrain issues at least somewhat earlier in the process, he might have gotten enough units on the road to convince the world he was right all along and snatch that golden ring of success that he'd sought. IMO, one of the saddest WHAT-IF stories in American business and industry. If I could find just ONE genie in a dusty bottle, I'd change the ending, fer shur!

Taking Whittier's famous quote in a different context:

"For all sad words of tongue or pen,
the saddest are these: IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN."

 

Wildly mislabeled. This is way, way, WAY bigger than 75mm. Like at least by a factor of two. Somehow, anything French more modern than Napoleonic seems to be labeled as the venerable French 75 (there was another in this thread somewhere, but I didn't mention it.